


The Valentine Killers

by faliceplease



Category: Chicago PD, Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-07-27 10:14:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7614094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faliceplease/pseuds/faliceplease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a case shows up in New York that Voight is all too familiar with, he wants to help Benson and the SVU team to finally put away the Valentine Killers once and for all, but they're sneaky and they're determined to not get caught. Which is why they need all the help they can get, Alvin, Ruzek, Antonio, Jay and Erin all make the trip to bust this operation once and for all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for choosing to read this! I really want to keep writing it so tell me what you think!

February 2008

Miranda Johnson had just finished up work, it had been a hard day in her legal office with having one of the partners retire, the entire firm was adjusting to the changes and as you'd expect, it was hectic. 

If you had told Miranda what the date was she would have been shocked, how was it February already, just five minutes ago she would have sworn that it was still November when she'd explored Paris with her new beau, Frankie. 

February 11th it was and usually she would have been planning a romantic Valentine's Day with her husband John, but somehow she doubted that would be happening this time round, considering he'd walked in on her and Frankie in a compromising position in early December. 

But she had a solution, no self respecting woman would ever spend Valentines Day alone, which was why she'd signed up to dates.org a site that held a special Valentine's Day discount to every member who joined and agreed to be matched before the big day. She was excited, she had never been on a blind date before and this was all new and liberating for her. 

She'd already splurged on a new dress, a slinky black number that always drove her ex husband crazy, but this dress was worth more than his car and that made her surprisingly ecstatic. She was just so determined to have fun on her date since her husband decided that they couldn't work through their issues and left her right before Christmas, without that tennis bracelet he'd hidden in his sock drawer, she had been furious. 

That was all in the past now because she was determined that this man, Scott99 was going to be her new lover for months to come. Nothing better than the touch of another man to get over a bad break up, that was her philosophy. 

With her lips ruby red, and her cleavage ready to rock and roll. Miranda left her apartment with a spring in her step. She'd made sure to leave out her best scented candles, and a brand new bottle of champagne was waiting in the kitchen if the day went well. 

The elevator was full of teenagers, a Valentine's Day party was being held on one of the other floors, and she wasn't impressed. What could teenagers possibly know about love? She kept to herself the entire way down, and was happy to finally depart from the noise of pubescent adolescence. 

Her dinner plans included one of Chicago's finest restaurants, a place she had been many times. She knew the menu's like the back of her hand and the staff knew her wine preferences better than her own husband had. 

It was her comfort zone, which was why she had chosen it. If Scott99 looked half as good as his profile picture she knew she was going to have the night of her life and then some. 

The walk between her car and the restaurant entrance was almost half a block, she disappeared into the shadows every few metres, not exactly the entrance she would have planned for herself, she much preferred it when she had an audience to admire her perfect physique, to stare in awe after the way her new dress hugged her body and made her look like a dream. She wasn't vain, not really. She just appreciated adoration. 

She could see the lights shining, and hear the hum of happy customers only a few metres away, but she never made it to that restaurant, and Scott99 didn't look like his picture at all. 

Frankie Johnson was in the middle of watching The Voice when a knock at his door interrupted, he wiped his Cheeto stained fingers down the sides of his sweat pants and rushed over to the front door of his down town apartment. 

There was nobody standing in his entryway, only a packaged wrapped in newspaper sat on his doormat. 

He reached down to pick up his personal delivery, wondering who would have sent him anything. There were only a few people who knew of his new address, none of which would have hand delivered anything, especially without popping in to visit at the same time. 

He closed his front door behind him and say back down on his sofa, he should have noticed the spots of newspaper that were damp but he didn't. Not until he unwrapped the gift and dropped it flat on the floor. 

A human heart rolled across the floor, and he screamed out like a little girl. 

His apartment was soon swarming with police, including one very scary detective, who handed him a card that read Detective Hank Voight. 

 

February 2015 

Olivia Benson was having a rough day, she'd stayed up half the night as Noah had come down with a nasty head cold, and if she was honest she thought she was coming down with one too. But in her line of work, a sick day is no option unless of course you're dying. But even then Olivia Benson would probably still try and show up. 

It was Amanda who greeted her at the door with the news, a victim had turned up dead, and it was yet to be determined if her death was a result of an angry rapist or if the killing was the MO in the first place. 

"What did the coroner say?" Was the first question that escaped from her lips, the two woman were still walking in the direction of Liv's office. 

"They're still examining, but there's more." Amanda told her, reaching into her pocket to find her mobile phone. She scrolled through her apps, and stopped on her photos. "The victim was missing her heart. Everything else was in tact, no other organs or limbs were missing, just the heart cut straight out of her chest." 

"And she was raped?" Olivia asked, sitting down on the corner of her desk, holding onto Amanda's phone and scrolling through the pictures. 

"Her dress was ripped straight off her body, her underwear was half way down her legs...." 

"So we're still in the assumption stage." 

She nodded, "But in my experience, a victim like this wouldn't have their underwear tampered with if for no reason." 

Olivia nodded grimly; she couldn't stop thinking about that poor girl. 

"Let me know when they've ID'd her." 

"Will do." 

Olivia had just settled into her desk chair when a knock on her door interrupted. She looked up, it was Amanda again. "The lab results are in, she was raped." 

Olivia nodded, "Do we have an ID?" She asked, knowing that this case was going to be a tough one already. 

"We do." She confirmed. 

"Rebecca Samuel's, 23 year old preschool teacher." Olivia announced to the team, she had stuck a photograph of the young woman, a blonde with a sweet innocent smile, "What did you do to deserve this?" She thought to herself as she looked at the photo. 

Amanda took over the explanation since she knew the most about the case so far. "She was found beside a dumpster behind a restaurant, her clothes torn, and her underwear pulled down past her knees. All limbs and organs in tack except for her heart which was removed and couldn't be found anywhere." 

"What's the symbolism with removing the heart?" Nick asked, trying to piece it all together.

Amanda nodded, acknowledging the great question. "We're thinking it has something to do with Valentine's Day next week." 

"Why her? Why now. Valentine's Day isn't for another week." Fin pointed out, examining the sick photography in front of him. 

"That's what we need to figure out, before more women are attacked." 

"I want to find out who Rebecca Samuel's really was. The more we know about her, the more we'll know about what kind of people want to hurt her." 

Jumping Beans preschool was flooded with mothers and children, it was the morning drop off and Amanda was having trouble thinking straight as she tried to go past all the noisy mother-child combinations in the hallways, Nick was following swiftly behind her, following her every footstep. 

“Excuse me, do you know where I can find the director of this school?” Amanda asked one of the mothers, flashing her badge quickly. 

“Is everything alright?” The woman asked with a flash of concern across her face. 

“We just need to ask her some questions about a friend of hers.” Amanda told her, it wasn’t a complete lie. The last thing they needed was a panic to erupt throughout the hallways. That would be a complete disaster. 

“She should be in her office, it’s the last room at the end of the corridor.” The woman told her, before turning back to her little girl, she was zipping up her backpack and telling her daughter to line up ready for Miss Rebecca to arrive. 

Nick and Amanda shared a saddened look between them. They both knew the kids would be waiting a while for Miss Rebecca to arrive considering the circumstances. 

The hallway was long, and kids lined up beside every classroom, all louder than the last classroom they’d passed. By the time they arrived to the last door, most of the classes had already been ushered inside their rooms, all except one lonely class, Miss Rebecca’s. 

Amanda announced herself before walking into the office, Tricia Bentley was stressing out. As far as she knew, one of her best teacher’s had forgotten to call in sick and she was in need of finding a replacement for the day. Nobody wanted to come in after such short notice, even after she offered to pay them extra. She was about to lose it completely. 

“Ms Bentley? I’m detective Rollins and this is Detective Amaro, we’re here to talk to you about Rebecca Samuels, she worked here didn’t she?” Amanda asked, walking into the small office space. 

“Rebecca? She totally flaked, she’s never taken a sick day in all the years she’s worked here. I’m swamped trying to find a relief teacher.” She rambled on, without the realisation that something had happened to her employee. 

Amanda took out her phone and scrolled through the photographs, she found one that solely contained a picture of Rebecca’s face. “Could you tell me if this is Rebecca Samuels who works here?” 

Tricia’s eyes widened, a look of pure distraught shadowed over her. “What happened to her?” She asked, as tears started to well in her eyes. “Detectives? Oh hell, she’s dead isn’t she? Oh my God, I can’t believe this!” She started sobbing, “I just saw her yesterday! She was fine, excited about some date she was going on last night.”

Nick handed her a tissue before singling in on the last thing Tricia had said, “Who was she going on a date with, maybe he knows what happened to her.” 

“She didn’t say!” Tricia cried, dabbing at her eyes with the tissue, “All she told me was that she met him on some kind of dating website, she even showed me a photograph. He had blue eyes and blond hair, just up to his ears. I think his name was Tommy or his screen name was Tommy88.” She was blabbering on, but everything she said was helpful in its own way. 

Amanda opened her notes on her phone, “What did you say this website was called?” She asked her thumb ready to type out the address. 

“I can’t remember, but I think Rebecca wrote it down somewhere.” She recalled and started rummaging around in her top desk drawer.

After she’d scrounged around for a few minutes, a small post it note was finally found all the way at the bottom, stuck to a stapler. “Here, perfectmatch.org.” She read as she handed Amanda the note.

“Thank-you, If we have any questions we’ll be in touch.” Amanda smiled, heading towards the door. Tricia was still torn up about Rebecca, she’d been her best teacher, and a close friend for years. 

Nick turned to her and patted her shoulder, “Sorry for your loss, we’ll get the guy who did this.”

Tricia nodded, her eyes welling up with tears again. 

 

 

February 2008

Hank Voight sat opposite Frankie Johnson. He was convinced the sad son of a bitch had killed his ex wife, but he had no proof other than the bitter divorce that had gone down only a week earlier. 

“So you’re telling me that your ex wife cleaned you out, and you didn’t even feel for a second that you wanted revenge?” He asked in a menacing tone. 

Frankie was shaking, this man scared the hell out of him. “I didn’t kill Miranda! I love her!” He cried out. 

“But she slept with other men, and you caught her with one of them. That’s why you divorced isn’t it?”

“Yes, but!” Frankie defended himself. “I would never hurt Miranda, she was my everything.” 

“That’s not what your blog says.” Voight reminded him, pushing a print out of Frankie’s posts. 

Voight decided he’d read out a few lines just to make Frankie sweat a little. 

“I can’t believe that bitch has been sleeping around our entire marriage, I hope she rots in hell.” He paused and looked directly into Frankie’s fearful eyes. “I hope someone rips her heart out just like she ripped out mine.”

He thought for sure that he’d nailed him there, he’d practically admitted that he wanted Miranda’s heart ripped out. 

“I was upset!”Frankie was now in tears, he obviously had just realised that this evidence could put him away for life, but Voight didn’t share with him a piece of evidence that could throw this whole case away.

The semen found inside Miranda wasn’t a match for Frankie’s DNA. Voight didn’t know how he was going to get around that fact, but he had plenty of ideas up his sleeve. One of which avoids having a trial at all. 

“I had arguments with my wife, but I never wished someone would cause her harm.” Hank told him, causing Frankie again to shake violently. 

“I’m done with you for now, but next time I see you and we don’t have any other suspects, you’d better ask God for forgiveness because you’ll be meeting with the devil.” He threatened, leaving the interrogation room with a slam of the door. 

February 2015

Nick sat at his desk, perfectmatch.org open on his computer screen. Amanda came up behind him, placing her hands on the back of his chair as he scrolled through accounts. “I didn’t know you were looking for your perfect match.” She teased him, he looked up at her knowing she was only trying to lighten the mood. 

“I found Rebecca’s account, she had a few matches. None of which have had less than 10 matches themselves.” He explained, scrolling through Rebecca’s matches. 

“I found our mysterious Tommy88, it says here that he only joined yesterday. I ran his face through facial recognition and there is no record of him in our system.”

“So he’s clean?” She asked, wondering why a guy with no history of crime would commit such a horrific act.

“It appears so.” Nick sighed, scrolling through some of Rebecca’s other matches. 

She stopped him, “Click on his profile, I want to see if he has any other photos.” Nick clicked on Tommy’s name and the website redirected him to Tommy’s profile. He started clicking through the photos, there were only seven pictures, but they were all perfect looking. “I guess this really is perfect match.” 

Amanda frowned, “Why would mister perfect be looking for love on a website, you’d think he’d have women throwing themselves at him.”

Nick looked offended, “He’s not that perfect, his abs are clearly photoshopped.” He scoffed. 

Amanda’s face lit up like she’d just hit the jackpot. “Go onto google, I think I know how to find mister perfect.” She instructed him, before going on to telling him what to type. 

“I knew I’d seen him before.” She exclaimed when the latest catalogue for Armani showed up on images. Nick clicked on the photos and his eyes lit up. “This is our guy, how’d you know?”  
She shook her head, “This isn’t our guy. Tommy88 catfished Rebecca, she went out thinking she was meeting with Mister perfect, only to be attacked by mister imperfect instead.”

“So we have no leads?” He asked sadly. She nodded. 

“We could try and find out who runs this website, see if they can help us track down where this account was made.”

“I’ll see if I can find a contact.” He told her, and started searching the website thoroughly. 

Olivia walked past the pair of them on the way to her office, Amanda followed her eagerly. “I was looking for cases online that involved removal of the heart and there have been a string of these cases right across the country, starting in Chicago seven years ago.” 

Olivia turned around, “Chicago.” She repeated, walking into her office and sitting down at her desk once again. “Thanks Rollins, I’ll see what I can find out.” 

Amanda nodded and left her to it. 

Hank was sitting in his own office all the way in Chicago when his phone suddenly started ringing. 

“Hank Voight.” He answered gravelly. 

“Sergeant Voight, It’s Olivia Benson. I have a case that you may be interested in and I could really use your help.”

“I’ll be there as soon as the next available flight takes off.” He told her without even waiting for her to explain the case. He didn’t have to know what it was about, he was happy to help.


	2. Chapter 2

February 2008. 

Hank was frustrated, his supervisors had made him let Frankie go home, they couldn't hold him any longer without sufficient evidence to hold him, right now a few angry blog posts weren't enough to nail him to the crime. 

He was determined to find the killer; he needed to pin this murder on the killer before he strikes again. This is his city, and anyone who hurt his city deserved to be locked up for good. 

He was fussing over paperwork when a call came through. He rushed to his feet and slung on his jacket. Another body had been found. 

“Missing a heart.” His partner spoke with a cautious tone. He knew this was going to make Hank mad, he knew him better than most people. 

He wasn’t wrong, Hank Voight covered that girl over and marched right out of that crime scene. The look in his eye, the fire filled expression that sent shivers down anyone who managed to look. He wasn’t going to let this happen again.

February 2015

When Hank Voight walked in, the atmosphere changed. Everybody remembered him as the sergeant who took things to the next level, he’d made quite an impression the last time he’d set foot in New York, and the that fact that he was there again meant that this case must need a different approach. An approach Olivia Benson wasn’t angling that way herself.   
The two sergeants met face to face, no words between them in that very first moment. She turned, and he followed. The door to her office closed shut behind them leaving her team to share concerned looks between them.   
Olivia sat down on her side of the desk, Hank stood leaned against her door. She would have asked him to take a seat, but she knew there were more pressing conversations to be had. Small talk would be wasted.  
“There are things we need to discuss.” She started, pulling a file out of her drawer, he walked over to her and took the folder from her hand.   
“Rebecca Samuels, 23. She was meeting up with a man she met on a dating website, a cat fish.” Olivia recited off the top of her head, as Voight read the words of the pages silently.  
When he had finished, she noticed the look in his eye. She’d seen it only once before, when he was in the interrogation room.   
“Did she cheat on her boyfriend?” He asked, clenching his jaw tightly.  
She looked confused, and scanned over the file figuring she must have missed something, she hadn’t.  
“As far as we know she was single.”  
Voight shook his head, “Sergeant Benson, you asked me here for a reason. What was that reason?” He asked her, sitting down on the spare seat opposite her.   
“It had come to my knowledge that this type of crime has happened before, in Chicago.”  
Voight nodded, “And did your source forget to mention the detective who was on that case seven years ago?” He asked her, their eyes met and neither of them were about to stand down.  
“No, she did not.” Olivia had a feeling he was about to tell her now.  
“Well now you’re looking at him.” He cracked a smile, closing the case file without leaving her gaze.   
“So the other women, they cheated on their boyfriends?” She asked, wanting to know more. This case was unusual, and horrific. 

Voight stood in front of everyone, he had scribbled everything he knew onto a white board and was explaining the case he had been on all those years ago. “Miranda Johnson was a respectable lawyer, she was married but she slept around, her husband found her with one of her guests, he filed for divorce and she cleaned him out.”  
“So her husband had motive.” Amanda interjected, but Voight wasn’t finished explaining.  
“She was the type of woman who always needed someone around her to make her feel loved. Her reputation had got around her office, so she turned to a website.”   
“Let me guess, her date was another cat fish.” Fin spoke up for the first time.  
“We called it something different back then, but yes.” Voight answered, he had to admit working with the SVU team was a lot like working with his intelligence kids.  
“He raped her outside their meeting place, and cut out her heart.” Nick concluded.   
Voight nodded, “Her heart was sent to her e husband, dropped off at his front door wrapped up in newspaper.”   
“We haven’t heard of any hearts being left on doorstops.” Amanda informed him, she looked over at Olivia who nodded to confirm that she hadn’t heard of anything either.  
“They don’t always turn up straight away.” He told her, turning back to the whiteboard.   
Olivia took over as Voight added his final touches to the board. “Nick, you and Fin track down anyone who Rebecca could have been seeing, Amanda, we’re going back to that preschool.” 

Amanda walked into Tricia’s office with Olivia on her tail. She knocked on the door as she entered, but Tricia wasn’t inside. The two women shared a confused look before walking down the hallway and searching classrooms.  
Tricia was sitting alone in one of the empty classrooms, tears streaming down her face. She was a complete mess, and it was understandably so. Amanda was the first to approach her, she sat down on the floor beside her. She let her be the first to speak, not wanting to push her into talking.   
“She was my friend.” Tricia sobbed, trying to hold back her emotions so she could speak. Amanda rested her hand upon her shoulder and told her it was alright.   
“I should have told her that internet dating was dangerous, but I didn’t.”   
“You didn’t know this was going to happen, you couldn’t have.” Amanda assured her, Olivia walked over and sat down on Tricia’s other side.   
“Tricia, this is Sergeant Olivia Benson, she’s here to help us find out who did this to Rebecca.” Tricia’s eyes were still on the ground, until Amanda pointed over to Olivia.  
Tricia nodded and looked Olivia up and down. “I’ll try my best.”  
Olivia smiled, “That’s all we ask.”  
“Did Rebecca have a boyfriend recently?” Amanda asked, she needed to start somewhere.   
Tricia looked like she didn’t want to answer, like she was hiding something, the two detectives shared a look between them; Olivia was the first to speak. “Tricia, we need to know if Rebecca was seeing anybody because there are other girls like her and we don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”  
“She never told me specifics, but there was this one guy she was seeing for a while, his name was Christopher. But they broke up a while ago. I never knew why, but I did notice that it was around the same time she started seeing another guy, she called him Lewis.”   
Olivia smiled, “Thank-you for helping us. I know it’s not easy losing someone but you’re going to help us prevent others from losing someone the same way.”  
“She was so young. I want the people responsible to pay for this.” Her voice was filled with pain and passion, she really wanted to nab those guys.  
Amanda smiled, “They will, we have the best guys on this case.”   
Olivia smiled, they really did. 

February 2008  
Hank Voight hadn’t slept in days, he had been going over the case files determined to figure out what he was missing. Was there a link between the victims? Something he had overlooked? The other detectives had started talking about him, calling him obsessed. He didn’t listen to any of their chatter, neither of those girls deserved to die, especially not over stupid mistakes.   
The first victim, Miranda Johnson, the second was Holly Jones. Neither woman had met each other or each other’s spouses. They were both living in Chicago, and were looking for a date for Valentine’s Day, but that’s all Voight could think of. There had to be something else, someone else to tie them both together, sickos like this never killed out of spontaneity, they always killed with a purpose. So far he was coming up with complete blanks.   
There were so many unanswered questions, which only determined him further. He rose to his feet and rushed out the door. He needed to talk to Holly’s girlfriend, perhaps she could shed some light on why Holly would have been targeted.   
He went through his files and found her details, Bethany Holmes.

February 2015  
Nick was scrolling through Rebecca’s Facebook, nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be catching his attention, posts from friends, photos of kitten’s and funny YouTube videos flooded her profile, nothing about her love life. He checked through her friends list, looking closely at her recent friends.   
He clicked on a profile, one that only had one friend. “I might have something.” He called Fin over. Fin walked over, a mug in his hand.  
“Who is this yahoo?” He asked, looking over Nick’s shoulder.   
“I don’t know, but don’t you find it strange that Rebecca is his only friend?”  
“I’ll get an address.”

Dennis Parker lived downtown, when Nick and Fin arrived at his address, it looked like nobody had been there in weeks. Newspapers were stacked messily up and down the front stairs, as they walked to the front door, they both reached for their guns just in case.   
Nick walked slowly towards the front window, peeking in subtly. He spotted a leg, it appeared a man was laying face down on the floor. He signalled to Fin that they needed to get inside and fast.  
The door was bashed open, Nick rushed to the man who was passed out on the ground, “He’s overdosed.” Nick commented, calling for an ambulance, he held his fingers to Dennis’ arm looking for a pulse, before moving to check his neck. “He’s still alive.” He called out to Fin who was checking the house to see if they were alone.  
“We’re all clear.” He reported as he walked back into the room.   
“Why would you do this to yourself?” Nick asked the air; Dennis looked like hell, despite being passed out. His hair was a shaggy mess, he had tracks along his arms and his body looked drained.   
He stepped back when the paramedics moved in, he watched as they carried him out on a stretcher. If what Voight said was true, and if this guy was Rebecca’s boyfriend, being cheated on could have been the very trigger that might cost him his life.   
As the pair of them walked out of Dennis’ apartment, it was Nick who spotted something he hadn’t noticed on the way in. He pointed, and Fin watched his finger. “Was that there before?”  
“I don’t know.”   
He moved over to it, the box that was sitting not too far from the front door. He leaned down and opened it up, shock took over his body when he laid eyes on what was inside.   
A human heart  
“Call Liv, this was the boyfriend.” 

February 2008  
Bethany Holmes was sobbing on her sofa, she’d been in bed when the policemen had come to her doorstep. They didn’t know that Holly had moved out, that she’d been sleeping on friend’s couches for the past two weeks. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that she was no longer Holly’s girlfriend, not after they’d shared the news. She’d broken down right there on her doorstep; despite what Holly had done to her she was still madly in love with that girl. So knowing that she’d been murdered, that was just devastating for her.  
Now she was sitting across from a detective who told her that he was going to help bring Holly’s killer to justice, she wanted to believe him, but a part of her knew that the only justice Holly’s killer deserved was to have his own heart ripped out.   
She hadn’t said much, because she knew if she opened her mouth she’d scream again, she wouldn’t be able to keep herself together. The detective, Hank Voight was kind enough to let her take her time, he was sitting there patiently telling her that he was going to be there for when she was ready, she appreciated his kindness but he had to know that nothing he said could ever change the way she felt. She was hurting in the worst way.  
The doorbell sang, and Voight turned to her. “Do you want to answer that or should I tell them you’re busy?” He asked her sincerely. She looked at him through her teary eyes and said softly, “I should see who it is.”  
Voight nodded, and stayed where he was as she left to check on the door.  
He rushed to his feet when he heard a blood curdling scream coming from Bethany’s lips.  
She was standing in her doorway, stunned to silence by the time he’d rushed over to her. Sitting at her feet was a package, Voight lifted up the wrapping. Inside was Holly’s heart.

February 2015  
“Are you sure that box wasn’t there before you went inside?” Olivia asked Nick who had told her exactly what happened at Dennis’ earlier.  
He shook his head, “I don’t know! All I know is that sick bastard delivered a human heart!”  
“Hey settle down.” She warned him, resting her hand on his shoulder. He nodded, but she knew he wasn’t anywhere near calm.  
Amanda walked over, she’d just been on the phone. “There was a security camera from across the road, one of the home owners was convinced that their neighbours weren’t to be trusted. They’re sending over the footage now.”  
“Thanks, I’m going to go check on Dennis at the hospital.” She turned to Voight, her eyes asking him if he was coming. He nodded and followed her outside.  
“When I was interviewing the girlfriend of one of the victims, they delivered it when I was inside.” Voight shared as they walked down the halls of the hospital.  
“They were taunting you.”  
He nodded agreeably. “She never recovered from that, committed suicide three months later.”  
“Why are people so cruel?” She wondered aloud as they reached Dennis’ room.  
He was awake, hooked up to morphine. He watched as the two sergeants walked in.   
“I won’t do it again.” He told them, fear in his voice. He had assumed they were there to bust him for his drug habit.  
“Dennis, I’m Sergeant Benson, and this is Sergeant Voight. We’re here to talk to you about your girlfriend Rebecca Samuels.”  
“Rebecca? We broke up months ago.”  
“Well, care to explain why her heart was on your doorstep?” Voight asked him, giving him one of those menacing faces he was so famous for.  
“I-I don’t know anything about that! I swear!”   
“We know, but the people who do chose you because Rebecca cheated on you. They wanted to rip out her heart like she did to you.”  
“They did that because of me?” He looked horrified.  
“Now, we need to know if you’ve ever blogged about Rebecca. Or did you tell anyone about her cheating on you?”  
“It wasn’t like that! We weren’t all that serious, only dated a few months but she left me for another guy.”  
“Do you know who the other guy is?” Olivia asked, Voight had been relatively silent since his one liner a few moments prior.   
He shook his head.   
Now it was time for Voight to speak, “You were clean when she was with you weren’t you?”  
Dennis nodded, “I started shooting up after she broke up with me, but it’s not like I was pining after her.”  
He was embarrassed, Voight could hear it in his voice. He had been upset about the break up he just didn’t want to admit it.  
“So what she did affected your life, you started taking risks because she dumped you.” He turned to Olivia, “Sounds like he took it hard to me.”  
She nodded, “Sounds like it.”  
“Now did you tell anyone about what Rebecca did, or am I going to have take you before a judge for possession and drug use?”  
“Okay! Fine! I told a few people, but I never said she ripped my heart out!”   
“But you did say that she hurt you.” Olivia pointed out.  
“That’s all you needed to say.” Voight added.

Amanda was sitting at her desk when her phone started ringing, she answered without checking caller ID.   
“This is Amanda.”  
“Hey, Amanda, it’s Erin Lindsay from Chicago.”  
“Erin, it’s been a while.” She smiled, even though they only seemed to see each other during horrific cases, it was nice to hear a familiar voice.  
“Don’t tell Voight that I called, I just wanted to check up on him and everything.”  
“It’s our little secret.” Amanda promised, “But he’s good, he’s been a real help. He’s worked on these guys before so he’s teaching us a lot.”  
“Hopefully you catch these guys this time.”  
“Yeah, hopefully.”  
“Just keep an eye on him for me. He kind of just rushed off without telling anyone. We’ve been kinda just taking on small cases on our own.”  
“Waiting for his call?” Amanda asked, knowing Erin would jump at the chance to come and help them.  
“Well if you need us, you know our numbers.” Erin laughed awkwardly. She was worried. She was there the first time Voight worked this case, it had been hard on him when he couldn’t solve it. It had been years and he was still going at it.  
“I’ll call you if anything happens.”  
“Thank-you, I appreciate it.”


	3. Chapter 3

February 2008  
Hank was mulling over his options, the situation was weighing his heart down like an elephant had taken a step over his chest. He was going to have to switch off his feelings if he was going to survive the evening.  
Erin was worried about Hank, he’d had a lot on his plate the last few years, things hadn’t been the same since he’d lost Camille, and she wanted him to feel something, to let her in his head. That was just something he couldn’t do.   
This case was killing him, and his feelings about Camille were buried deep inside him, nobody. Not even Erin could uncover them, bringing them to the surface was the last thing he needed.   
She walked up behind him, his lifeless body, staring helplessly toward the television, the news report haunted him as the reader reported exactly how far he’d come on the case. Erin reached over him ready to forcibly remove the remote from his grasp. He was too upset to stop her, he just stared at the blackened screen, his heart beating furiously against his unmoving chest. He didn’t move, he remained dead still, Erin’s arm landed across his shoulders. He wanted desperately to assure her that he was fine, but the truth was that this case was too close to home, the feeling of having your heart ripped out, it was exactly how he’d felt losing his wife.   
Erin had picked up on his mood, she knew better than to push him. He reached out for her plate, offering to take it back to the kitchen for her. She watched him leave the room, her heart ached for the man who she owed everything to.  
February 2015  
Erin walked over to Jay, her arms folded neatly across her chest. "Pretty brutal, this case." She spoke softly, searching his eyes for his reaction. 

He nodded, glancing behind her and out the window for a moment. "Wonder who scorned these guys." He asked into the air. She shrugged, she had no idea what would bring anyone to do such an act. 

"It doesn't matter who hurt them, killing someone is never the answer." 

He nodded, "I know that Erin." He said in defence. He knew she wasn't pointing out that fact just to upset him but the way she'd said it irked him. 

"No need to get upset." She held up her hands in retreat. 

He was embarrassed, he hadn't meant to sound so aggressive. He looked up at her with his big apologetic eyes and she shifted her position. "Good work getting the server by the way." She said softly, patting his shoulder with affection. They hadn't touched in weeks, not since the New Years party when she'd turned down his advances. But right now, all he could do was nod. 

"I should probably get back to work." He finally spoke, rising to his feet. She looked startled, but composed herself as she turned to leave him be. 

Olivia sat down behind her desk and sighed the deepest she'd sighed in a very long time. Her head was spinning, every time they got anywhere, those sneaky bastards would pull everything they'd gained out from under them. There was no doubt about it, these guys were professional. It felt like catching them would turn out to be impossible, even Hank seemed to be worried. 

He hadn't said a word to her; no news was not a good sign. 

She cornered him, reaching over to grab his attention, it had been scattered the entire morning, it hadn’t gone unnoticed that was for sure. “Sergeant Voight?” She asked, it wasn’t a question exactly, but she was still unsure of herself all the same. Her glance shifted to his body, his arms wrapped around himself like he was closing himself off from the world. She knew that stance well, but she also knew that there was nothing she could do to interfere with that.

“Halstead called.” She announced, Hank’s face changed at the mention of his own detective. He shifted from his previously concerned face, to a look of hope. She smiled, it was something she understood herself. “He wants you to call him back.”

Hank nodded, scurrying off into one of the back rooms. Jay answered on the second ring, his voice sounded tired; he’d been up all night. “Halstead.” Hank spoke before Jay had a chance to speak further. 

“Erin and I, we’ve found something.” He reported, glancing over to Erin who was across the room. She was engrossed by her computer screen, probably still looking over their discovery. 

He sighed as Voight asked him what it was. His boss sounded stressed, but Jay knew better than to question it. “We found the server; the website is running through Serbia.” He went on to explain exactly how the operation was going down, Voight admired the hard work the young detectives had put into this case, he thanked Halstead accordingly and promised to keep in touch, his first task was to share with Olivia what he’d found out, all he had to do was find her.

 

“Let’s take a look at the website again.” Olivia suggested once Voight had filled her in on the new details. He nodded and led the way to her computer. He didn’t surf the net in his leisure time, so using a computer wasn’t his strong suit. 

He logged into his email account, where Jay had sent through links. Olivia pulled up a chair for herself after he’d taken ownership of hers. He looked over to her as his account loaded, she smiled softly, looking down at her fingertips. 

“We’ll get him.” He told her, fiddling with the mouse. She nodded and hoped he was right. It was hard to keep hopeful in a time like this but it was all she could do to stay sane. Voight seemed determined, so who was she to doubt their abilities? 

“What’ve we got?” She asked, noticing his emails had finally loaded. He scrolled through Jay’s email and clicked hastily on one of the links.

He clicked link after link, and scrolled through the dating sites that Jay had discovered as connected. Each site seemed harmless, and that was the problem. If there were no reason to be alarmed then how were people supposed to realise they were in any danger? 

Olivia sighed from behind him. "All we know is that they're connected, and running through an international server. We don't know who is doing this or even if the website is run by the people who are." 

Voight eyeballed her carefully, he hadn't seen her like this before. "Take it easy." He reached over and touched her wrist gently. "We're going to find who did this and they're going to pay." He promised, the corners of his lips stretched upward as he spoke. He was confident; she'd give him at least that. The only thing that worried her was that confidence didn't close cases on its own. 

She nodded and tried to snap back into reality. He waited for her, not moving a single muscle towards the computer until she convinced him that she was alright. “Did you look into this angle before?” She asked, scooting her chair closer. She needed to see the screen. He turned swiftly back towards the glowing computer screen and scrolled through their current webpage. 

“I had one of my tech guys look into it, but he wasn’t successful.” He told her with a heavy tone of voice. She’d noticed that tone a few times since he’d arrived, it often made an appearance when she mentioned the old case. She didn’t mean to upset him, she just needed to know all the facts. 

“Wait,” She stopped him, tapping his hand over the mouse to scroll back up. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned in closer to scan a pop up ad that appeared on the screen. “Click on that.” She urged him, he stared at the curser as it hovered over the ad. He didn’t know much about social sites, but he had heard a thing or two about computer viruses. His hesitation seemed to strike a sudden frustration in his fellow sergeant who was growing impatient by the second. “What are you waiting for?”

The page loaded without crashing, this of course sent great relief through Voight who had been expecting the worst. He quickly scrolled through the page, scanning the words with his eyes. He’d never blogged before but from what he’d been reading he’d assumed this is what it looked like. 

Words jumped out at Olivia who was reading at the speed of light. She was filled with sudden anger as words such as slut, bitch, and whore screamed out at her. “I think we found our scorned men.” She spoke uneasily, rising to her feet. Voight watched as she inched towards the door, he nodded in agreement. That’s exactly what this site was. 

“We need the computers of boyfriends.” He spoke aloud the words that Olivia was already thinking. 

Nick Amaro walked through the cafe and straight out the door, he waited as a kind lady held open the door for him and another customer, he thanked her and walked out onto the footpath, two drinks occupied his hands as he made his way back to the car. Fin didn't even look up when he slid into the passenger seat. He spoke in a nonchalant tone, "Took you long enough." Causing Nick to chuckle as he handed over the drink. 

They drove off down the street, New York citizens carried on with their days without even looking up. "Do you think we're going to catch these guys?" Nick asked after a few moments of silent driving. 

"How should I know?" Fin answered, keeping his eyes on the road. "All I know is those bastards deserve to get caught." 

Nick nodded, he knew that too. He'd thought a lot about this case the past few days. He couldn't imagine ever hating someone so badly that he could want their heart ripped straight out of their bodies, no matter how bad they'd hurt him. "We'll lock them up." He hoped out loud. 

They hadn't heard anything from Liv or Voight all morning, but when they were nearing the station a call came over the radio. Fin didn't even hesitate before turning the car around and racing to the scene, his coffee dropped onto his lap scorching him in the process, Nick grabbed the cup, but Fin pushed his hand away as he tried wiping him down with a napkin. 

They were first to arrive, they ran into the high school flashing their badges as they walked in via the front desk. The principal was there to greet them, marching them to the schools indoor gymnasium. Nick tried to keep his head down, to stop himself from noticing the many high school kid faces that watched as they wandered down the halls. He tried to keep himself from feeling the fear that he could sense in their air, it was written all over their confused faces. 

The gym doors slammed shut behind them as they were ushered inside, a lifeless body lay across the centre line, a puddle of blood surrounded her. He swallowed thickly and forced himself to turn away as anger bubbled inside of him. She was just a kid, just a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. 

Now she laid on the floor of her school's gymnasium, her heartless body was half dressed, her clothes had been torn, her skirt was pulled up over her stomach and Nick wanted to throw up. 

"Her name is Margot Tasker, she's a senior." Principal Peters told them, his eyes were red like he'd been crying and his face was near white. 

"D-does her mother know?" 

Mr Peters nodded his head, he was a fairly large man, but at this moment he looked half the size. Fin didn't know what to say, he just stood there staring at the young girl. "We've seen this before; we'll talk to the mother when she arrives." 

Erin ended the phone call and walked over to the front of the room. "That was Voight." She announced to the room, everyone's attention turned to her. She took in a deep breath, her heart flustered for the moment but she powered through any attached emotion she might have felt. 

"A teenage girl was just found in her high school, her hearts missing and she's a part of the case." 

She looked over at Jay who had turned as white as a ghost. She turned away, not trusting herself to keep her emotions tucked away. 

"He-uh Voight wants us to join him up there, but we still have our case here so..." 

Antonio interrupted her before her words could come out the way she wanted them to. "I'll stay and work on our case. You go to New York." He told her, looking around the room for the others to voice their thoughts. 

Atwater was next to speak up, "If you need any more of us, you call aight?" 

She nodded, touched by the gesture. She turned back to Jay and caught his eye. "Do you want to come with me?" She asked, reaching over to grab her jacket. 

Jay looked at her with confused eyes, like he was mulling over her suggestion. She walked over to his desk once she'd realised that everybody else was already going back to work. 

"Depends why you want me to." He told her, sliding around the back of his desk using his office chair to move around. 

She laughed awkwardly. "You're my partner, I might need backup." 

He smirked, still not looking at her. 

"So, what do you say?" She asked, pressing the issue. 

He shrugged and looked back at her, he didn't know if he wanted to travel along side her. He didn't know why she really wanted him to do so, but this case needed to be solved and he wanted to do everything he could do to help, something that was hard to do from a different state. "I'm in." 

The students were all sent home for the remainder of the day, but that didn't stop the few nosy ones from leaving the premise. Nick had managed to pull aside a boy who claimed to know Margot quite well. 

"Did she have a boyfriend?" He'd began to ask when Olivia and Voight arrived on the scene. He'd stopped mid sentence when the two sergeants walked down the hall side by side. "Will you excuse me?" He asked the boy before wandering over to them. 

"What've we got?" Olivia asked as soon as she noticed him walking over to her. 

He pulled up his notepad and began explaining what he's already found out. He expected Voight would want to listen in but the older man's attention was elsewhere. 

Nick followed Voight's eyes, he'd noticed the woman who had only just stopped wailing, the mother of Margot Tasker was sitting down on the floor with her knees hugged up against her chest. 

Voight didn't speak, he just followed his feet straight over to her. "Mrs Tasker." He spoke, squatting down beside her. He didn't care that his joints creaked as he did so, or that he could possibly hurt his back. This woman was in pain, and he couldn't walk past her knowing that. 

"I'm Sergeant Hank Voight," he introduced himself, resting his hand upon her shoulder sincerely. She peeked out at him from behind her messy blonde hair. 

"They won't let me see her." She whispered, her voice shaking harder than an earthquake. He nodded his head, and pushed himself the rest of the way down to the floor to sit with her. 

"I know that must be hard on you right now, but you'll see your daughter soon." He promised her. "We're going to find who did this to her. I promise you that." 

Erin pulled out their plane tickets and handed one over to Jay. He thanked her and inspected the printed document like he was searching for gold. 

"Are you okay?" She asked him, noticing his odd behaviour. 

He assured her that he was fine as he sat himself down two seats away from her. Their plane wasn't leaving for another hour, so they had to spend their waiting time awkwardly in the waiting room with other passengers, he didn't know how he was going to kill time but apparently Erin assumed it would be spent talking. 

"Cut the crap, what's with the attitude?" She asked him, closing the magazine that she'd bought despite having no interest in idle gossip. 

"I need to cut the crap? Do you even listen to yourself when you talk to me?" He asked in a tone Erin hadn't heard him use before. She was caught off guard by his outburst, left speechless at first. 

"I'm sorry, if I've done something to you, I'm sorry." 

He shook his head. "All you ever do is send mixed signals." 

She frowned upon hearing his words. She didn't think there was any truth behind them. "Jay, if I'm sending you any signals trust me they're not mixed." 

"Sometimes it's like you want there to be something between us, and when I act on it you shrug me off like I'm just imagining things, and then you invite me to come with you to New York. I just don't get it."

She gaped, "We're going to New York to work Jay! How is that a mixed signal?" 

"You could have asked anyone, I'm sure Ruzek would have loved to accompany you on this trip." 

She snorted, "I'm sorry but Ruzek isn't even half the detective you are, and you know Alvin wouldn't send him alone with me." 

"Just tell me right now, if there is a chance of us ever having something between us I need you to tell me now, because if you don't then I'll know that I have to move on. No more mixed signals, no more confusion. Just tell me right now Erin." 

She looked him in the eye and began to open her mouth to answer when her phone started ringing.


	4. Chapter 4

February 2015

New York 

Voight was eagerly awaiting the arrival of two of his best detectives, he knew that if there were anyone he could trust to bring this case to bed, it would be Halstead and Lindsay. He had faith in the pair of them, even though it made him nervous having them around on this case. 

He sat down on Olivia's sofa as she was in her bedroom tucking Noah into bed. He could hear her talking to him, telling the little boy how much she loved him. 

The house was quiet apart from the sound of Olivia's shoes as they hit the flooring after every step she took. He turned once he realised she’d arrived in the room.

"Sorry about that." She spoke softly, not wanting to wake Noah.

Voight gave her a soft smile and moved over to give her more room on the sofa. She took the empty seat gladly, her day had been stressful. 

"You look like you could use a good night's sleep." He told her, which she didn't disagree. She felt exhausted, even more so than usual. She felt horrible for every one of those woman, she wished that she could switch her thoughts off at night instead of trying to solve crimes in her head as soon as her head hit the pillow at night.

"We all could, but that doesn’t mean we’ll get it.” She reminded him, leaning her head back against the top of the sofa. Voight looked down at his phone, checking on the time. He knew the plane would be landing soon. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to go and pick them up?” Olivia asked, unbeknown to him she’d been watching him. He turned and shook his head, he needed to stay put. Ever since he’d given her the word that Erin and Jay were flying up to help, she’d noticed a change in his mood. He’d seemed calmer, while at the same time he’d been a little on edge. She wondered if it had anything to do with who Erin had chosen to accompany her, her guesses were that it was exactly what he was worried about. 

“They’re shacking up together? You sure you trust them?” She joked, nudging his shoulder with her own. Erin had filled her in on Hank’s suspicions for the pair, and she couldn’t help but tease her fellow Sergeant. She needed to lighten to mood, and the room. It suddenly became very obvious to her how dark the room had become, with only a lamp to keep them from the pitch blackness, 

She walked over toward the light switch, and watched as Hank shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness. It made her smile. She walked over toward him, grabbing hold of a cushion, she pulled it into her chest as she sat down beside him, his eyes watched every movement which in turn brought out a strange sense of insecurity. 

“I take it Erin told you a little something about the pair of them?” He questioned her as soon as she’d returned to the seat beside of him. They couldn’t do much on their case, not while their suspects were probably tucked up in bed, so what better way to spend an evening? 

She shrugged, “You know me Sergeant, I don’t give out private information.” She smiled to assure him that she was only kidding. She ran her fingers up and down a frayed edge of her cushion, her eyes leaving his for a moment. 

He chuckled to her delight, shaking his head in disbelief. “Is that how you’re going to play this?” He asked her. “Erin is my family, I don’t want her being screwed around with in house romances that don’t go the distance. She’s a good cop, I don’t want her to blow that up.” 

“There’s your problem.” Olivia told him straight up. “You’re not letting her make her own choices. If she wants to date him, then maybe you should let her. If it doesn’t go the distance like you say, then she’ll be the one to figure all of that out.” 

Chicago 

Adam was confused, he didn’t know where he was going so late in the evening, or why Alvin was taking him there, he had tried asking his partner for details, but of course he’d been rewarded with complete radio silence. The drive was a little bumpy and heck he wasn’t used to sitting still. All he wanted was to know where they were headed and why, but clearly he wasn’t going to get that answer from Alvin, who had that look in his eye. The one that read, “Don’t bother asking, I’m not going to tell you.”

As soon as the car stopped moving, Adam turned to Alvin and moaned an impatient “Finally!” Alvin shook his head and opened his door, walking out and around the car. He stopped and stared out at the river. Adam followed his lead, stopping beside of his partner, and friend. He tried to follow the older man’s glance, but for him he was just looking at water. There was no significant value, no sentimental feelings attached. 

“Al?” He finally asked, realising that there must have been a bigger reason for them both to be standing there. Alvin wouldn’t have made the trip if it were just a mean of relaxation. “What are we doing here?” His voice hushed down to a meek whisper, he had caught onto the tone in the air, that something had happened there in the past. 

“They found her body right over there.” He pointed over to his left, beside a park bench. Adam’s face fell at the realisation. He didn’t know Alvin’s relation to whoever was found in this spot, but he was piecing together that it must have been a close one. 

“She was the wife of one of my oldest friends, this valentine killer that Voight’s chasing over in New York, they’ve ruined the holiday for so many families.” His voice was delicate, this was fresh for him and Adam could tell that it was hard for his partner to even be talking about it. 

Alvin started moving, he walked until he finally stopped and stared down at the ground. Adam wasn’t sure if he was supposed to follow, he’d never been in a situation like this before especially not with Alvin. Every joke he’d made on the way over, all the obscure guesses about their destination he was starting to deeply regret. 

“The look on his face when I had to tell him what had happened.” Alvin was nearing tears, choking them back as he spoke. Adam couldn’t imagine the plagued memories that Alvin was now bringing to the surface, he’d never had to do that, never had the experience of losing someone he knew like that, to feel for someone in a case. It was awful to even imagine, and there his partner stood breaking right in front of him and he was rendered speechless. 

“You don’t want to ever have to do that.” Alvin told him, turning back around. His hat was in his hands, his eyes were red, but dry. He signalled towards the car but Adam shook his head. 

“Take a few minutes.” He told him, walking over towards the edge of the water. He paused to pick up a rock, skimming it across the water in a smooth movement. Alvin needed time, and that’s exactly what Adam could give him. 

There was nothing fair about any of this, and Adam didn’t know the right words to bring that fact aloud. He wanted this case to be over just as much as any of them, but even then there was no way to bring back the innocent people who’d be affected by these crimes, they were gone for good and that’s what upset him the most. 

February 2008

Hank’s hand landed upon Alvin Olinsky’s chest, he pushed him backward away from the crime scene with enough force to assure him he meant business.   
Alvin wasn’t having any of it. “What’s your problem?” He demanded, trying to move past him. Voight shook his head, he wasn’t giving in that easily. There was no way he was letting Alvin any closer to the body, he owed him that. 

Voight had known Alvin a while, they hadn’t always gotten along with the same crowds, but they were aware of each other’s company. Which was why he knew straight away that Alvin was not going anywhere near that crime tape. The woman was sprawled in pieces, her body had been further mangled than the others and Voight didn’t think Alvin could handle seeing her that way. His own stomach was already protesting his own involvement with this one. 

“Hank!” Alvin’s voice rose, he was angry now, which only pushed Voight harder. He gripped onto Alvin’s bicep and roared his response. 

“This is my crime scene, and I’m not asking you to leave.” His chest popped out as he spoke, and Alvin didn’t even flinch. 

“Let me past.” He counteracted, shoving past his fellow detective. 

It was only when he spotted the face of someone he knew he realised why Voight had been so determined to dismiss him from the scene. His lip started to quiver and straight away he had to turn. He couldn’t stand staring at her face as she laid there in the grass, her heart stripped from her chest, as his thrashed against his own. He locked eyes on Hank who gave him a knowing look. 

He couldn’t stay there a single second longer; if he did he didn’t trust himself remembering how to breathe.

 

February 2015

Nick thoughtfully handed Amanda the coffee he’d picked up for her. She smiled and thanked him as they both walked along the sidewalk towards Daniel Obrey’s residence. Daniel was Margot’s boyfriend. His name was scribbled all over her school books, her room was filled with photographs of them together and he had been in her recent contacts on her cell phone. 

They waited outside his front door, after Nick had knocked on it a couple of times. Amanda took in a deep breath. “This is rough, they’re just kids.” She shook her head, still struggling to get her head around it all. She’d studied the horrific crime scene photos all night, searching for clues but the photos brought her nothing but an upset stomach and the need to protect any future children she may or may not have. 

A middle aged woman answered the door, her hair was a mess and her night gown swam over her small body. She looked tired, like she hadn't slept and Amanda couldn't help but feel for the fellow woman. 

"Mrs Obrey?" Amanda asked, taking charge. The woman’s eyes glazed over her as she looked up at the pretty detective standing in her doorway, this wasn’t something she had been expecting to wake up to, especially not today of all days. 

“I’m detective Rollins, and this is Detective Amaro, we’d just like to ask your son Daniel a few questions if that’s okay?” Amanda’s voice was soft, she always seemed to turn on her soft voice when she was working with families. 

A teenage boy called out from somewhere in the house, assumedly Daniel. He was asking his mother what was going on. The woman turned around to call out to him, “It’s the police honey, they’re here to chat with you.”

Daniel was starting to panic, he’d watched the detectives arrive outside of his bedroom window. He’d seen the movies, and the television shows. He was a suspect, he knew this. He couldn’t be a suspect! He’d never hurt Margot, he was in love with the girl. He always had been, which was why when his mother let those two detectives inside, he had to fight the urge to run away, he knew that wouldn’t go down well. Running always made you look guilty. 

Amanda and Nick sat down in the Obrey living room, Mrs Obrey was busy in the kitchen fetching them some tea, even though Amanda had assured her they’d already had their morning caffeine fix. 

Nick was watching Daniel, who was shaking like a leaf, he knew how hard it must be for the poor kid. He recognised him from the school, he’d been white as a ghost that morning and was looking no better now. 

“We’re not here to scare you, we just want to talk.” Amanda told him, leaning forward in her chair to make eye contact. Daniel was scared, he could hardly even look at her. His internal monologue was cussing himself out, way to go Daniel! Now you look guilty! 

“Were you the only one Margot was seeing?” Nick questioned him straight away, he could feel the tension in the air as Daniel’s face changed. The teen obviously wasn’t expecting that question, as he once again turned as white as a ghost. 

His foot started outrageously tapping against the floor as he fought back tears. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but his vast knowledge he’d accumulated from watching crime shows told him that he was toast, he didn’t do it but it sure as hell looked like it. “I didn’t hurt her! You have to believe me!” He cried out, tears streaming down his pale face. He could still hear his mother in the kitchen, but all he could think about was proving himself innocent, he’d worry about what she’d think about him being involved with ‘that Margot slut’ later.

“Hey, relax, we’re not saying you did.” Amanda assured him, reaching out to steady him. Her hand gripped his arm gently and Daniel started immediately calming down by her touch. They locked eyes and she nodded at him, reinforcing that he’d be alright. 

“Margot was seeing someone else wasn’t she?” Nick asked once Daniel had physically stopped moving, he was sitting still staring at the wall behind the two detectives, the photographs that hung on the walls calmed him, they were the perfect distraction. 

“Margot didn’t like being tied down, she said it was suffocating.” He spoke with pain, Margot had been the love of his life, a love that she didn’t have for him in return. She’d only allowed him to call her his girlfriend quite recently, she said it made her feel special, almost as special as the way her other lover made her feel. 

Daniel’s hands started shaking at the memories he held inside. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. “One day I followed her after her ballet class, I knew that she was seeing someone but I needed to know who it was. I wanted to know what he had that I didn’t. She went all the way across town, but when I saw whose house she went to, I was so angry. He’s not attractive, he’s old and I don’t understand why she would want someone like that.” 

Nick and Amanda shared a concerned look. “How much older?” Amanda asked carefully. 

“He’s our Geometry teacher.”  
Erin let her arms drop back down to her sides, she’d just enveloped Voight in a hug. The minute she’d walked in, she’d noticed the familiar stressed look he wore across his face and it broke a little piece of her heart. 

“How’d you sleep?” He asked her as soon as their embrace faltered, she searched his eyes, but he was locking her out. 

Her arms folded neatly across her chest, Jay was talking to Olivia across the room and she could just see them past Voight’s shoulder. “It was fine, you look like you haven’t slept in a while.” She noted, concerned for his health. 

“I’ve slept, enough.” He assured her, not wanting to talk about himself any longer. “Plenty of time to catch up after this case has finished.” He told her, nodding towards Olivia and Jay. Erin followed him as he wandered over to the pair. 

“Rollins and Amaro called.” Olivia informed him, “The side-boyfriend was a teacher.” She spoke regrettably. This case seemed to get worse every passing day, she was beginning to realise how thankful she would be once it was over, and all the sickos involved were locked behind bars for a long time. 

“Are they going to talk to the teacher?” Voight asked her, wanting to be ready for their next move. Olivia nodded her head gently and looked over towards Erin with a warm welcoming smile. 

“Sorry we keep meeting like this.” She told her with a frail grin. Erin nodded her head, she understood what she meant. It was as though every time they met, they were digging deeper into cases that seemed unsolvable. 

“Where do you need us?” Erin asked, sneaking a quick glance at Jay who was just as ready to get into it all as she was. They hadn’t spoken much on the plane, after their argument the air between them had been tense but today was a new day and they were both ready to put it behind them for as long as they needed to. They wanted to solve this case just as much as anyone else did. 

“We’re going to need to find out everything we can about Daniel and Margot’s internet histories. They’re sending over Daniel’s computer now, Margot’s is already here.” Olivia pointed toward Fin who was cussing at the laptop in front of him. 

“What are we looking for?” Erin asked, the reunion with Voight had been a little more personal than professional. His debrief was somewhat brief. 

“Dating sites, blog posts, Facebook anything you can find.”

Erin and Jay both moved towards Fin, as Olivia and Voight disappeared into Olivia’s office. Jay turned to Erin and sighed, “I thought you pulled me here to leave the office.”

She rolled her eyes at his complaint, “You’ll get your turn.”


End file.
